Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Bobby Eberle Rewrites Reuters For Freepers

Too bad Bobby Eberle doesn't have Jeff Gannon around anymore in the GOPUSA "newsroom." The majority of the "articles" that have appeared at Talon News (only the first few lines appear there...if you want to "read more"...you're redirected to GOPUSA.com where the stories are actually located) since Jeff quit shilling bear Bobby's name as the "writer."

Bobby's latest top story - "Bush Sends Judicial Nominees Back To Senate" (link) - might read a little familiar to Thomas Ferraro, a scribe for the Reuters news service ("Bush Renominates 20 Failed Judicial Nominees" boston.com) . You see, the Talon News style of journalism consists of plagiarizing from the work of real journalists and mixing it up with exact quotes from administration speeches and official government press releases. Bobby steals lines and quotes from the mainstream media, removing any "liberal" slant, and sends it out to his Websites and subscribers so that they can read only "good news":

Bobby Eberle - "President George W. Bush figuratively threw down the gauntlet to Senate Democrats on Monday by resubmitting the names of 20 judicial nominees to the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Thomas Ferraro - "President Bush set up a showdown with Senate Democrats on Monday by renominating 20 failed judicial nominees, many of whom had been denounced by critics as "right-wing extremists.""

Bobby Eberle - "New Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is on record as being willing to take a stand against controversial nominees and said in a statement on Monday, "The president is at it again with the extremist judges.""

Thomas Ferraro - "Reid, in a statement of his own, said, "The president is at it again with the extremist judges.""

Bobby Eberle - "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) expressed his support for the nominees on Monday saying he is "pleased that the president has renominated these excellent women and men to serve on the federal bench." Frist expressed hope that Democrats will work with him to "get up-or-down votes on each nominee.""

Thomas Ferraro - "In a statement on Monday, Frist said, "I'm pleased that the president has renominated these excellent women and men ... I'm hopeful that Democrats will work with me to get up-or-down votes on each nominee." "

Bobby Eberle - "Frist is thought to be considering forcing a rule change if Democrats insist on continuing to obstruct judicial nominations this session."

Thomas Ferraro - "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has threatened to change the Senate's rules to prevent any more procedural hurdles known as filibusters against judicial nominees."

Bobby Eberle - ""The American people sent a strong message on November 2 against the obstructionist tactics that, unfortunately, we saw all too often in the past four years," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)."

Thomas Ferraro - "Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said, "The American people sent a strong message on November 2 against the obstructionist tactics that, unfortunately, we saw all too often in the past four years.""

Bobby Eberle - "A simple majority of 51 votes is needed to the change the rules while 60 is necessary to end a filibuster..."

Thomas Ferraro - "A simple majority of 51 votes would be needed in the 100-member Senate to change the rules and end filibusters."

Not satisfied with just re-using words from Reuters, the second page of Bobby's cut-and-paste-job is just about completely lifted from the last few paragraphs of an article by the Associated Press (Jesse J. Holland "Bush Sends Senate 20 Judicial Nominees" cache link). Bobby does mention the A.P. as a source for the Ted Kennedy quotes (ummm I don't think there's any chance that Teddy would be taking calls from Talon News), but it might have been a little smarter to at least switch the order of the list of judicial nominees that the A.P. provided (yes, the nominees are listed in alphabetical order by state, but the courts are also listed in the same order).

Where did Bobby first read the Reuters article and why did he decide to "re-write" it?

Perhaps he saw this thread at the Free Republic Website yesterday: cache link. It was listed as a "Reuter's Bias Alert."

A freeper using the handle "GW and Twins Pawpaw" noted, "Senator Harry better watch out. He might get Daschled next time.."

Bobby Eberle's "article" included this line: "Then Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle led the Democratic minority in blocking some high-profile nominations in the last congressional session, a role that some say led to his defeat last fall at the hands of new Republican Sen. John Thune."

Contributors

"Or take this guy, Ron Brynaert, a tenacious (lefty, stand alone) investigator with an instinct for where information and proof and the jugular are. He's a natural: Why isn't he on someone's I-team?" Jay Rosen, June 6, 2005.